Mobile devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other similar devices have increasingly been used for the transfer of data both wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled and Internet protocol. While online purchasing and bank are available via these devices, potential security issues remain with extensive use of mobile devices to initiate financial transactions. Monitoring devices such as “sniffers” and other devices may be used to intercept signals from mobile devices to obtain information from these signals, which may include private financial information such as account numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), and the like. As a result, the use of mobile devices to initiate financial transactions is subject to various risks.
There is the additional risk of lost or stolen mobile devices that may have financial information stored on the device that would be accessible by the thief or person who found the phone causing concern similar to when an individual loses a wallet, credit card, ID, etc. What is needed is a secure way to initiate or otherwise participate in financial transaction using a mobile device.